Let there be light

Solar panels.

Glorious, god-sent solar panels.

I would like to share with all of you my epic journey to solar power...

Monday, Aug 18: day before Swear-In

We're discussing the logistics of Affectation (the delivery of 30 new volunteers to their respective sites). Among this is the fact that we now have access to our Peace Corps bank accounts, and our Affectation money has been deposited. 100mille for old sites, 200 for new ones (like mine), who are literally moving into empty houses.

A big question on everyone's mind: much are solar panels???

There are a fair few of us who have new sites without electricity, and who are therefore very interested in this information.

One of our kind PCVFs hops on the phone to ask a fellow PCV friend who is knowledgable about such things. She writes down all sorts of information about sizes of panels and what each size can power/charge. Among her notes, I see "Tenkodogo region: David will help."

HOLY MOLY! I'm in the Tenkodogo region! I don't know who this David character is but I want him to help me!!! "Pst. Pssssst. What's this about Tenkodogo region? That's me!" Apparently, solar panels are cheaper in regional capitals than they are in Ouaga (no surprise there, everything is expensive in Ouaga), so if we*** were willing to wait a couple weeks, this David character would help us buy solar panels in Tenkodogo! 

SOLD! All I really need to charge is my phone and my kindle, and I have this magical apparatus called an Anker battery (which is just an external battery that charges anything that can connect via USB - worth it's weight in gold), so I can totally make it a couple weeks!

***who's "we"? There are three new volunteers in the Tenkodogo region, but Kelby has electricity. Rude. So "we" is me and Diana, whose site is actually only like 6km from mine.

Thursday, Aug 28

I meet Diana in Tenkodogo for the day. I forget why, but it seemed urgent at the time. Maybe to charge devices? Who knows, that seems a little early in the story to be needing power. Hmm. Whatever.

She has opened lines of communication with David. He is working camps right now but will be back at site around Sept 4. HO BOY. That's a week away! Okay. Deep breaths. No big deal. Maybe he can do that first weekend that he's back, the 6th?

Wednesday, September 10

I meet Diana in Tenkodogo and apparently the bike tour is passing through, and who's doing it but our new friend David? We go meet them at a reeeeeally nice hotel (caught in a torrential downpour on the way), and find out that David got a 50W solar panel, battery, and inverter for 102,000 cfa, and that was the best price he's ever heard of. The only thing he'd do differently is buy a bigger battery, because his solar panel was too powerful for the battery and it ended up dying. Good to know.

I learn that Diana's boyfriend, Galen, is planning to come visit on 16th. Is it okay if we do it then?

I understand why she wants to make it one trip - I'm an easy 8-9km from Tenkodogo, but she's more like 14. Why bike there and back an extra time if can help it?

Sure, I can wait another week. I've already had to work up the courage to ask the hooligans down at the bibliotheque to charge my phone once, I can do it again.

Sunday, August 14

THE END IS IN SIGHT!!!! In just two short days I will have POWER! Look at me go!!!

Find out that my sister has gotten engaged. Um YEAH we can chat four 2 hrs on viber!!! And then I can totally talk to my parents for an hour on my dumb phone!! I'll be in Tenko Tuesday and I can charge there and then I'll have POWER!

Oh wait...that beep 30 min ago was a text message...from Diana...David's girlfriend is sick and he wants to go visit her while she's in the infirmary in Ouaga and wants to see if we can move solar panels to Thursday?  Of course that's okay...

I guess I'm going to Tenko by myself (actually this was awesome, I basically had a mini vacation in 24hrs away from site. But that's separate.)

Thursday, August 18

I wake up around 4am to the sounds of rain. Normally I love when it rains, but not so much when I was planning to be biking down a 6k of dirt road in 2 hours...

6am. Still raining. I had told David I'd be in Tenkodogo early (I like to leave before it gets hot), so I warn him that I'm not going to be leaving as planned.

We decide to revisit the timing after the rain.

10am. Still overcast but it has stopped raining. We had both wanted to hang at a hotel w internet before the big shopping, and my road is plenty muddy, just no more water coming from above to rinse me off as I go.

We decide to delay another day.

Friday, August 19

ITS HERE! THE DAY HAS COME!!! I leave  late enough to pass by the bank right when it opens. Still takes 45 min because it's the bank, and it's Burkina.

Get an omelet, meet David at the internet hotel. We hang until Diana says goodbye to Galen and meets us.

SOLAR PANEL TIME!!!!!

We find a store (only our second stop) which is run by a real straight shooter. He is awesome. Not only did they actually measure out our 6m of cord, he also gave David the real price for the inverter - and maybe other things too. 

Total? 88,000 each. WHAT??? That's with the bigger battery and still a ton cheaper than David spent? THIS IS AWESOME!

The negotiations begin. Store owner drops down to 150,000 total (for both of ours) right away, but will not budge beyond that. David advises us to instead look around for other things to try and add into the package. I suggest lights. Each is 3,500, but with everything else, the total comes out to 155,000 -- 77,500 each. I had mentally prepared myself to drop a hundred mille today, so I'm thrilled.

Can we leave this stuff here will we go eat lunch, and get it on the way home?

Cool, thanks.

I get home. Remove everything to make sure it survived the trip. What's that??? I know what mouse snacks look like, and I am fairly certain a mouse made a snack of this cord. UGHHHH.

I have to go back and get him to give me a new length of cord. Joy.

Saturday, September 20

7:30am. Leave my house. I don't know when this man opens shop but I don't want to wait for him.

8am. Omelet. Same place as yesterday, just as delicious and cheap.

8:20.am Arrive at store, explain problem. Store owner obviously remembers the white girl who spent $150 here yesterday, and sees the very clear evidence of a mouse. Calls child helper over to cut new cord, we have a nice chat.

8:30am. Then onto the paved road, pedal, nothing happens. Pull over. Chain has come off the sprocket. Hi, can you help me? Thank you so much!!! Back on my way, and that was only mildly embarassing.

8:32am. Pedaling. Gearing up for the bike ride. Again, nothing happens. Bike is coasting. Look down, this time the chain is broken. AH! That's new.

I look around and see that I'm right by my breakfast spot! We're friends by now (I are there yesterday too), so I figure he can point me to someone who can fix my bike.

8:35am. The kindly maker of my omelets looks dismayed on my behalf, and directs me just down the street. This other man fixes my bike in approximately 7 minutes. 

I think of mechanics in the US. I think of Burkinabe retailers. I fear that he is not only going to give me the Nasara price, but the Nasara+Woman price.

I put my game face on, and ask, "combien? Un cadeau?" He doesn't appreciate my joke about it being a gift, but only charges me 100 cfa, so I'll take it.

9:15am. IM HOME! Broken bike chain and all, less than 2 hours.

2:00pm. My homologue sends some of the hooligans (read: teenage boys) to help me cut wires/connect/etc.

6:30pm. My house is illuminated.......it feels like another world.

It felt like a life time with the plans changing so often, but I only had to live without a source of power for 30 days. And as silly as it sounds, knowing that I was getting a solar panel, but not having it, and living life on the floor because I have no furniture - all of that has kind of made me feel like this isn't really my house, I'm just camping out here for a while. But I have a solar panel now! And my homologue is back from vacation and he told me to "just make a list" of what furniture I wanted and he'd help me get it!

(We got some ridiculous prices -- definitely Nasara+Woman prices -- and a lot of people who did not understand what we wanted when Diana and I tried to make headway on this a couple weeks ago)

Anyway. Sitting here looking at my house with something other than a flashlight, and planning out what furniture I want to get made and where I want to put it, and what color do I want to paint the walls to cover all the dirt? ...it's finally starting to feel like MY house. And you know, it feels pretty damn good.